MUR Shipping BV v RTI Ltd [2022] EWHC 467 (Comm)

Force majeure and sanctions

The English court has recently handed down a topical decision in which the shipowners were allowed to terminate a contract of affreightment by invoking the force majeure clause because of the US sanction imposed on the Russian charterers in 2018. The particular importance of the decision is that the court considered the scope of the “reasonable endeavours” requirement in the force majeure clause, and held that such provision did not require the shipowners to accept non-contractual performance by accepting payment in euros instead of US dollars as per the contractual terms.